As part of our focus on Peanut Brittle, a fountain pen ink from Van Dieman's Harvest, here is an ink painting, demonstrating the shading and light variation of this lovely ink. Peanut brittle was the sole ink used for all of the hair, to fully show off its complete shading range. Peanut Brittle was mixed slightly with Sailor's Delight from our midnight series to paint the eyes. The skin tones were also done with Peanut Brittle, mixed with Nutmeg, also from Harvest, for the lightest skin, Tassie Salmon for the rose cheeks, and Native Cornflower for the shadows, both of which are inks from Tassie Seasons. Tassie Salmon was also used solely for the shirt and background along with Native Cornflower.
Peanut Brittle is almost impossible to define; too dark to be a yellow, too light to be a brown, too yellow to be an orange and too red to be an amber. As you can see in this painting, this ink can vary anywhere between a light yellow similar to our Wattle Yellow or Apple Cider, to a light brown similar but not as dark as Leatherwood Honey Amber. This shading makes it perform outstandingly in artwork like this, and it can be used to represent a huge range of natural colours found in landscapes, plants, hair, architecture etc. It mixes excellently with water and other inks to create variation but also shades very well on its own and unmixed, as it is used here.
The standout feature of this ink is just how well it performs in pens. Unlike other yellows, Peanut Brittle comes out quite dark and readable, and has a flow much more natural and thick than is usually expected from lighter coloured inks. This makes it an incredibly versatile product, for both writers and artists alike.
We are very proud to make this ink our first ever Ink of the Day, and it is Free with every order made before 11:59pm, November the 7th, 2020.